The LiveU 5G LU800 units, key to Vitality London 10,000 race coverage

Over Exposed and Gravity Media have joined forces to cover the Vitality London 10,000 with the LiveU 5G Lu800 units for BBC Red Button and YouTube.

Over Exposed started using LiveU eight years ago. Since then, it has continued to rely on its technology, moving from small streaming projects to large-scale streaming events for use in broadcast environments. For the Vitality London 10,000 race, the production company expanded its backpack fleet from four to six units by combining LU300 and LU800 equipment. Over Exposed was responsible for deploying the solutions, managing the acquisition of signals via LiveU and processing their delivery to the Gravity Media team. Gravity Media then produced the footage, including commentary and graphics, before distributing it to the London Marathon YouTube channel and the BBC’s Red Button service.

Russell Martin, co-owner of Over Exposed, provides further details of the production, including the use of roaming cameras to allow the presenters to move freely throughout the race: “This gave us access that with a traditional OB truck would have been either impossible or prohibitively expensive.” The production company also used three motorbikes with LiveU units to follow the racers: “Again, this gave us unrivalled flexibility and cost reduction as otherwise we would have had to use a helicopter. You don’t need to spend vast amounts of money rigging equipment around London, which is, of course, also a logistical nightmare. You don’t need permissions for cranes or aircraft and so on. It is a far, far more cost-effective, efficient and flexible way of working: it allowed us to gather great content wherever we wanted. In combination with the resource saving that remote production allows, along with 5G, which is definitely a benefit, though LiveU works brilliantly with 4G too, this was a very successful project.”

Ryan Goad, head of communications at London Marathon Events, was also pleased with the production: “The coverage achieved at the Vitality London 10,000 was excellent. The motorbike-based footage was crystal clear and helped to bring to life a fantastic collection of elite races, as well as give a real sense of the varying emotions of the thousands of mass participation runners that took part in the event. The cost saving that comes with using this technology also can’t be ignored given how significant it is.” Finally, Malcolm Harland, UK country manager at LiveU, said: “The way Over Exposed used our technology for this event is a real vindication of all the work LiveU has done across the sports market and beyond. Remote production, 5G – 4G, too – and LiveU is a formidable combination of technologies and workflows that ultimately benefits the viewer.”